A team of researchers working out of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine on humans beginning in January. What makes this vaccine different from the handful of others in development around the world is that it uses dead HIV-1 virus, in a similar methodology that led to vaccines for polio, rabies and hepatitis A.

The virus is first produced at special "bio-safety level 3" laboratories in Maryland and Colorado. It's then killed and genetically modified to become harmless, and a protein found in honeybee venom cultivates it into the vaccine, which they've named SAV001. This is the fourth attempt to produce such a vaccine, and only passed FDA approval - considered the world gold standard - after it passed 230 different safety tests.

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